The final forecasts used by Master Planning are either split over the item's coverage dimensions using Forecast Allocations which are calculated from demand history, or using Forecast Allocation Rules which must be manually created.  A forecast allocation rule must be specified by item to override forecast allocations generated from demand history.


If an item has no demand history, forecast allocations can't be generated so at least one forecast allocation rule must exist that covers the item.  This doesn't need to be specified for the individual item but, if not, it will be ignored as soon as forecast allocations are generated from demand history for the item.


Notes: 

  1. If an item's forecasts contain all its coverage dimensions, forecast allocations are ignored.
  2. In releases prior to Release 6.1, forecasts without all the required coverage dimensions for an item could cause problems if the item's Output Dimension Group didn't have all of its coverage dimensions selected.  The item's final forecast would then be created based on the dimensions selected in the output dimension group and Master Planning would create separate planned orders for both these dimensions and for the item's coverage dimensions. For example, if the output dimension group specified site only, but the item's coverage dimensions were both site and warehouse, Master Planning would create one set of planned orders for the site based only on forecasts, and another set of planned orders for the site & warehouse based on stock levels and sales orders, but excluding forecasts.